Nestle overhauls executive team as sales slump

TDT | Manama

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Nestle’s new CEO lowered sales growth expectations for 2024 and announced a leadership reshuffle yesterday in what one analyst described as a “painful reset” for the global food giant. Chief executive Laurent Freixe took over from Mark Schneider on September 1 in a surprise change at the top of the Swiss group, whose brands including everything from Nespresso coffee capsules to Purina dog food and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Freixe, a Frenchman who headed Nestle’s Latin America unit, was appointed to turn things around following slumping sales and a series of product scandals. The company reported yesterday sales totalling 67.1 billion Swiss francs ($77.4 billion) for the first nine months of the year, a 2.4 percent drop from the same period last year.

“Consumer demand has weakened in recent months, and we expect the demand environment to remain soft,” Freixe said in a statement. Freixe said Nestle now expects organic sales growth, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations and acquisitions, of two percent this year.

The group had already cut its annual sales outlook from four percent to three percent in July, as consumers moved towards cheaper alternatives following years of high inflation. The global packaged-food giant and its rivals had logged high sales growth in the past three years as they raised prices to make up for higher costs due to soaring inflation.